Collating device

ABSTRACT

A collating device having movable partitions whereby different numbers of copies can be delivered to different bins utilizing a standard uniform sequence of movement of the sheet distributor with respect to the bins.

United States Patent 1 m1 3,907,279

Ervin [451 Sept. 23, 1975 [541 COLLATING DEVICE 3,096,089 7/1963 Swenker H211. v. 270/58 x 3,315,957 4/1967 Mazzio et a1. [75] lnvemo James WHOWCk, 3,467,371 9/19 9 Britt 61 a1 270/58 73 Assigneez Addressograph Multigraph 3,540,786 11/1970 Potter 220/22.3 X Corporation, Cleveland, Ohi 3,586,311 6/1971 Schulze 270/58 [22] Filed: 1970 Primary Examiner-R0bert W. Michell [21] Appl. No.: 66,297 Assistant Examiner-V. Millin Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Russel1 L. Root; Ray S. Pyle [52] US. Cl. 271/173; 270/58 [51] Int. C1. B65H 39/10 [57] ABSTRACT [58] Fleld of Search 270/58; 271/64; 220/22 A collating device having movable partitions whereby different numbers of copies can be delivered to differ- [56] References Cited ent bins utilizing a standard uniform sequence of UNITED STATES PATENTS movement of the sheet distributor with respect to the 2,459,940 1/1949 Himmel 220/22 bins,

2,484,996 10/1949 Hatch 211/150 2,661,209 12/1953 McGalliard 270/58 X 3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures US Patent Sept. 23,1975 3,907,279

k Mg A TTURNE'Y COLLATING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In many business offices, it is often necessary to provide copies of printed or duplicated documents to sev-' FIGS. 1 through 4, one embodiment ofa sheet collating eral different people, and it has become conventional practice to employ collating machines'in conjunction with the printing or duplicating machines to separate the copies into separate bins as they are produced. In

some cases, equal numbers of documents are delivered to each person and for such purpose conventional collating equipment is adequate. Such collating equipment takes many different 'forms..I-Iowever, this equipment- DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawing, and for the present to deviceaccording to this invention is shown. The device includes a main frame, designated generally as 10, a partitioning structure designated generally as 12, and a sheet conveyor mechanism, designated generally by reference 14. The main frame includes a base 16, a pair of vertical support members 18 extending upwardly from the base,'a side plate secured to one of the supportmembers l8 and to the base 16, arear plate 21, and a front plate 22. One side is left open to provide access to the bins; however a door or movable plate could be employed to cover the side. 7

Each of the support members 18 has a plurality of equally spaced vertically aligned grooves 23; and ex- This may take the form of a movable'she'et feeding mechanism and stationary bins or stationary sheet feeding mechanism and movable bins. In either case, the sheet feeding mechanism will become aligned with a bin opening to deliver a predetermined number of sheets and then will become aligned with an adjacent bin and deliver the same preprogrammed number of sheets. This will continue until the preprogrammed number of sheets have been delivered to all of the bins programmed. It is a relatively simple matter to provide a structure wherein the number of sheets delivered to each bin can be varied, provided that this same number is delivered to each bin programmed However it requires much additional and often complex equipment to provideacollating device wherein different numbers of sheets are delivered to different bins. Nevertheless, office requirements may be such that different persons or different departments must receive different num-.

bers of any given document. Extra hand collating is the usual solution whenever the expense of a variable program collator is not justified.

enlarging the receptical to embrace two or more imput stations.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view',.somewhatschematic of a collating device according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view, of the device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged detailed view of several of the shelves and the supporting structure of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the plane designated by the line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view partly in section and somewhat schematic of another embodiment of a collating device according to this invention;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged detailed view of several of the partitions of the device of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the plane designated by the line 77 of FIG. 6.

tending from the side plate 20 are a plurality of verticallyi aligned equally spaced support pins 24. The support pins'24, together with the grooves 23, are disposed to support partitions in the form of shelves 26 in generally an angularly upwardly extending position as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 to form a plurality of sheet receiving bins 27. The shelves 26 are generally an exaggerated z shape with an end tab 28 disposedto be slidably received in the grooves 23, an end wall 30 to define the end of the bin and a bottoin wall 32 to define the bottom of the bin. A spring clip 34 is secured to the bottom wall 32 and is adapted'to press against itsrespective support pin 24 when the shelves are in position. Thus, each of the shelves 26 can be slidably inserted or removed from a groove and pin pair. In FIGS. 2 and 3 the collator is shown with oneshelf removed. The openings to the bins 27 are defined between the front edges of the shelves 26 and are designated by reference number 36. Openings 36 are equally spaced by virtue of the fact that the pins 24 are equally spaced.

The manner of sheet delivery to a bin is not germane to this'invention. There are a number of sheet conveyor mechanisms commercially available which will deliver one sheet to one bin, and then step to the next bin and deliver one sheet to that bin until all of a series of bins have been delivered one sheet. Such devices could readily be altered to deliver'more than one sheet p'er bin, but always a uniform number to each bin.

An example of such sheet conveyor mechanism is US. Pat. No. 3,372,922. This mechanism is described as a collator distributor having a set of conveyor belts disposed vertically in front of a plurality of shelves. Non-moving, retractable, metallic tapes are disposed contiguous to each of the conveyor belts to hold sheets against the belt as the sheets are fed downwardly. Moving vacuum tape means are mounted between the conveyor belts to hold the sheets flat as they are conveyed. Although that structure is not exactly illustrated in the drawings of this invention, nevertheless the endless belt and vertically moving deflector will be recognized as producing the conveying and deflecting function of the referenced United States patent.

The sheet conveyor mechanism 14 as shown schematically, includes a sheet entry guide 38 disposed to direct sheets to a pair of rolls 40 and 42. An endless vacuum belt 44 carries each sheet along until diverted from the belt into a bin by a sheet diverting flange 46. Flanges 46 are carried along by a pair of flexible straps,

which do not appear in the drawings, but may be studied in U.S. Pat. No. 3,372,922.

The sheets are received from a duplicator or printer (not shown) and pass through opening 47 into the entry guide 38 and are fed by rolls 40 and 42 to the endless belt 44. The sheet will continue along the belt 44 until it comes to the diverting flange 46 where it will be diverted to the left as shown in FIG. 2. Shown in solid outline in FIG. 2 is a sheet being diverted into the top bin and in phantom outline a sheet being diverted into the second bin down from the top.

The collator is programmed to sequentially move the diverting flange 46 successively to the openings 36 for a given period of time to deliver a predetermined number of copies and then move to the next opening for same time to deliver the same number of copies, etc.

If all of the shelves 26 are in place, this sequence will deliver an equal number of copies to each of the bins. However, if one shelf is removed, the shelf immediately below the location of the removed shelf will receive twice as many copies as the other bins during a collating sequence by virtue of the fact that it will receive copies both from its own entrance and from the entrance immediately thereabove.

If it is desired that one bin receive three times as many copies, an additional shelf can be removed, and so on, so that different bins can receive different multiples of copies from a preprogrammed uniform distributing sequence. Thus by providing removable shelves, the same program can deliver multiples of the programmed number of copies to different bins.

Referring now to FIGS. through 7 another embodiment of the present invention is shown. In this embodiment, a stationary sheet feeding device, designated generally as 48, is provided which feeds the sheets to a movable bin structure designated generally as 50. The sheet feeding device 48 includes an endless belt reeved around a pair of rolls 54 and 56 and is disposed to receive sheets from a duplicator or printer not shown.

The bin structure includes a main frame designated generally as 58 on which a hub 60 is rotatably mounted. The hub 60 has extending radially thereform a plurality of partitions 62 each of which are pivotally mounted to the hub 60 by a rod 64. A pair of circular side plates 66 and 68 are secured to the hub 60 at opposite ends thereof. Spaced around each of the side plates 66 and 68 are circumferentially spaced detent grooves 70 formed from raised buttons 72. The detent grooves 70 secure the opposite edges of the partitions 62 to thereby form a plurality of circumferentially spaced bins 74.

In order to perform the collating operation, the hub 60 is rotated to sequentially bring the entrances of each of the bins 74 into register with the sheet feeding device 48. In a normal position, each bin will receive an equal number of sheets if the hub 60 is rotated at a given rate.

The number of sheets fed to every bin will depend upon the rate of feed and the rate of rotation. In order to double the number of sheets fed to a given bin, one partition 62 is pivoted from its normally detented position to the position shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, and the end is secured to the next adjacent partition by means of a spring clip 76. Thus, during sequential rotation at a given rate, the bin immediately adjacent the pivoted partition will receive twice the number of sheets as the other bins since it will receive the sheets from its own entrance and also from what would have been the entrance of the adjacent bin. Thus by providing pivoted partitions, a standard uniform rotation can provide multiples of documents to different bins.

In the above embodiments, removable shelves are shown with a stationary bin embodiment and pivotal partitions with the movable bin embodiment. It is to be understood however that removable bins or pivoted partitions or other types of removable shelves or partitions could be used in either type device.

I claim:

1. A method of delivering sheets to a plurality of adjacent bins each of which as a support panel and an entrance area through which a sheet may pass into the bin, said method comprising the steps of sequentially delivering sheets to each of the bins by directing a sheet through the entrance area for each of the bins in turn, connecting the entrance area for one of the bins in communication with an adjacent bin by changing the position of a support panel for the one bin relative to the adjacent bin, delivering first and second sheets to the adjacent bin after changing the position of the support panel for the one bin by directing the first sheet through the entrance area for the one bin and directing the second sheet through the entrance area for the adjacent bin to accumulate the first and second sheets in the adjacent bin.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of changing the position of a support panel includes the step of removing the support panel for the bin from a framework holding the support panels for the plurality of bins.

3. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of changing the position of a support panel includes the step of pivoting the support panel in a direction away from the support panel for the adjacent bin. 

1. A method of delivering sheets to a plurality of adjacent bins each of which as a support panel and an entrance area through which a sheet may pass into the bin, said method comprising the steps of sequentially delivering sheets to each of the bins by directing a sheet through the entrance area for each of the bins in turn, connecting the entrance area for one of the bins in communication with an adjacent bin by changing the position of a support panel for the one bin relative to the adjacent bin, delivering first and second sheets to the adjacent bin after changing the position of the support panel for the one bin by directing the first sheet through the entrance area for the one bin and directing the second sheEt through the entrance area for the adjacent bin to accumulate the first and second sheets in the adjacent bin.
 2. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of changing the position of a support panel includes the step of removing the support panel for the bin from a framework holding the support panels for the plurality of bins.
 3. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of changing the position of a support panel includes the step of pivoting the support panel in a direction away from the support panel for the adjacent bin. 